A native of The Bronx, Pete Fornatale got his start in radio as a Fordham University undergraduate, hosting a program on WFUV called Campus Caravan beginning on November 21, 1964.
He was the first DJ to host a rock music show on New York City's FM band. At a time when rock on the radio was confined to Top 40 AM stations, Fornatale spun records by lesser-known artists, played deeper album cuts than the current hit singles, and conducted soul-searching interviews with artists such as The Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas, and Simon & Garfunkel, all of whom came through Fordham on tour.
After graduating from Fordham in 1967, Fornatale taught for several years before beginning his professional career in the summer of 1969 at WNEW-FM.
In the summer of 1969, Pete Fornatale sat in one night for Alison Steele. One of the first spots he read was for the upcoming Woodstock festival. He brought a small, portable recorder with him and sat it near the console and recorded himself. [ LISTEN ].
He hosted several different shifts at WNEW-FM before launching his Sunday morning program, Mixed Bag, in December, 1982. As the name implies, the program was designed to be a reflection of Fornatale's eclectic musical taste.
Inspired by a fan letter from Suzanne Vega, he helped launch the careers of many singer-songwriters, including Vega, John Gorka, and Christine Lavin. Grammy winner Shawn Colvin told The New York Times in 2001, "Pete helped pave the way for so many of us. He was a rare guy in radio then." He gave early exposure to country-rock bands like Buffalo Springfield and Poco.
Crawdaddy MagazineTHE CRAWDADDY ROCK REVUE
October 15, 1977
Pete hosted this intriguing syndicated program to many stations across the country.
This is show #3, featuring interviews with Dwight Twilly & Phil Seymour of the Dwight Twilly band and with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. It also features reviews of albums by Nona Hendryx and the Rolling Stones. Except for two spots, this is a complete show. This show is very rare as it never aired in New York City. Pt.1 | Pt.2 (51:54)
Over the years he conducted in-depth interviews with hundreds of performers, including Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Carly Simon, Dion, and James Taylor. The key to a successful interview, he said, was "establishing trust." One of his frequent guests, Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul & Mary, recounted, "When we would talk together, the nature of our discussions would be very personal, very deep, and very revealing. They were the kind of in-depth discussions you rarely hear in the media."
In 1991 Fornatale moved the program to WXRK (K-Rock), where it was renamed The Sunday Show. In 1997 he returned to WNEW-FM when it launched a format of "Classic Rock with Classic Jocks." He came full circle to WFUV in 2001 as the host of Mixed Bag on Saturdays from 4-8 pm. The Mixed Bag typically focused on a single theme each week, with Fornatale drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of music for songs to illustrate that week's theme and engaging his listeners in the process through the program's online bulletin board.
AIRCHECK: Pete Fornatale Welcomes Summer [scoped-stereo] Sunday, June 18, 1978 Pete Fornatale plays great songs of Summer Part 1 (22:36) | Part 2 (21:46)
Fornatale also had a presence on television. He co-hosted the 1991 HBO telecast of Paul Simon Live in Central Park and regularly served as expert guest commentator on PBS specials featuring Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Roy Orbison, Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor and others.
His work has been recognized with many awards, including The New York Council of Churches Award for Broadcast Excellence (1976), the Armstrong Award for Excellence in Musical Programming (1983), The New York Folk Festival Special Folks Award (1984).
Pete's career created his legacy.Also, The World Folk Music Association Award for Making a Difference in Broadcasting (1992, The New York AIR Award for Achievement in Radio in (1998), and, this past February, the AMEE Award for Excellence in Broadcasting from the AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) Foundation.
Next to music Fornatale's biggest passion might have been baseball. When asked the question, "What wacky thing would you if you had the time (or guts)?" he replied, "See a game at every Major League ballpark in the American and National League (The 'guts' part is that I don't like to fly)."
After suffering a brain hemorrhage on April 15th, Pete passed away on the 26th of April 2012 in New York City.
Dennis Elsas met Pete Fornatale for the first time in early 1967. Dennis had accidentally stumbled upon WFUV and his show Campus Caravan trying to fix his AM/FM clock radio. He loved what he heard and was intrigued at the way he was putting the songs together. As a young college broadcaster at Queens College, Dennis reached out to make the connection. They soon became close friends and wound up working together for many years at WNEW-FM and later at WFUV.
